Chapter 111 Chapter 111 In the east of Sarawak City, near the seaside there is…
There is a small fishing village near the sea in the east of Sarawak. Most of the people in the village are fishermen. They have been fishing for generations and can barely make ends meet.
A slightly wealthier family could save up for a lifetime and buy two acres of inferior farmland nearby.
The fields here are mostly sandy, so the grain yield is not high. If one can grow his own food and vegetables and have just enough to eat after paying taxes, and does not have to rely on fishing to exchange for rice and vegetables, then he can be considered to be in good condition.
Zhao Baozhu is a boy who just turned twelve this year. His father met with a shipwreck while sailing at sea two years ago and never returned, leaving him and his mother, who was in poor health, alone at home.
The fishing business was no longer sustainable, and in order to make a living, Zhao Baozhu's mother Yingniang went to the city to find a job as a mender.
The job of mending clothes is to wash and mend clothes for others, and one only earns one penny for each piece of clothing. Yingniang could only do three or four jobs a day and earn a few cents, which she used to buy some inferior rice.
Together with the oysters and shells that Zhao Baozhu picked up at the beach, she was able to barely fill her stomach.
Zhao Baozhu's family lived in such poverty that her clothes were covered with patches and their colors faded after being washed.
Because there was no man in the family and hiring someone was too expensive, no one fixed the leaking roof. Whenever it rains, it rains heavily outside and drizzles at home, and it is very lively with the sound of ding-dong.
On this day, Yingniang went to the city to mend clothes as usual. When Zhao Baozhu was picking oysters on the beach with a wooden basin, she saw a group of people coming from afar with a notice in their hands, which they had posted on the notice board near the pier.
Soon, many people nearby gathered around and started chattering about the notice.
Seeing this, Zhao Baozhu also moved over with a wooden basin, wanting to hear what these people were talking about.
He couldn't recognize the words on the notice, but he could understand what the people watching were saying.
At this time, someone was heard saying, "If you farm for someone, you can earn half a tael of money per mu of land per year? Is there such a good thing?"
"How can this field be so easy to cultivate? The surrounding area is all sandy land, and crops cannot be grown at all. If it is so easy to cultivate the land, how could these lands remain barren?"
"They say we don't grow grains, we only grow fruits that are easy to grow, and there are people to teach us. It's much easier than growing grains."
“People in Sarawak can’t even afford food, so how many people can eat fruit? The fruit can’t be sold, and we have to find a way to transport it to other places to sell it. If it takes a few days on the road, the fruit will go bad. I don’t think this is reliable.”
"What's the big deal? The quality of the harvest is the landlord's business anyway. Didn't he say that as long as you till the land, you can get the money?"
"I don't believe in such a thing as pie in the sky. It's not a scam. It's better to fish honestly!"
…
The fishermen on the coast who make a living by fishing all year round were a little skeptical when they first saw this notice. They thought they could get money just by farming? Don’t you care whether the crops in the fields make money? Where can you find something so cheap? .
But Zhao Baozhu's eyes lit up, if what the notice said was true. If they cultivate one mu of land, they can earn five hundred coins a year. If they cultivate three mu of land, it will be almost the same as what Yingniang earns as a laundry worker. Then the family will not be so tight on money!
Zhao Baozhu thought about it for a moment, then went to the person who posted the notice and asked, "I want to farm. How should I farm?"
The person who posted the notice looked at him and saw that he was a young boy, so he said, "Where are your parents? How many people are there in total? Farming requires contracting land. Sign a contract with our master and ask your head of the family to come over!"
Zhao Baozhu didn't expect that the procedures for farming would be so formal. While she was a little disappointed, she also felt that this matter was indeed quite reliable.
Among the crowd, there were some people of Zhao Baozhu's age who knew him. When they saw Zhao Baozhu signing up, they laughed at him and said, "Zhao Baozhu, don't be fooled. Once you sign the contract, you might be sold to someone else's family to be used as a slave."
"I heard that the servants of wealthy families prefer young people in their early teens, who are just able to work. Those who are unlucky will be sold to black factories to do hard labor. At that time, they have to work for seven or eight hours a day, and their life and death are in the hands of others."
…
After hearing what they said, Zhao Baozhu felt a little scared. But life at home was so hard, and even if there was a glimmer of hope of making money, he wanted to give it a try.
In the evening, Yingniang came back and Zhao Baozhu told her about this and said that she wanted to go farming to earn money.
After hearing this, Yingniang did not react in the same way as the fishermen who were watching.
She had been washing clothes for people in a shop in the city these days and had heard a lot of news about the city. The most exciting one was about the contracting of sand land.
Because the city was well-informed, Yingniang learned that the owner of the contracted sand land was the husband of the Sarawak governor. Since he is from an official's family, he should not be a liar.
After hearing what Zhao Baozhu said, Yingniang was also very moved. She only earns three or four cents a day now. If her family leases three acres of land, she and Zhao Baozhu will have more time to work hard and earn more than 1,500 cents a year. At least they can live a better life than now!
After making up her mind, Yingniang took Zhao Baozhu to find the man guarding the notice board early the next morning and proposed that her family wanted to rent three acres of land.
The man looked at Yingniang and asked about her family situation. He then took out a pre-written contract, filled in a few words on it and said, "This is a contract with you. There is some vacant sandy land near your home. Someone will come over and allocate three acres to you."
"If you have made up your mind, sign this contract. Then you must listen to the steward's instructions and farm according to their requirements!"
Yingniang was illiterate, but she saw that the person who signed the contract looked calm and composed, and did not look like a bad person. He gritted his teeth, dipped his hand in the ink, and stamped the contract with his red handprint.
Seeing this, the man handed one of the contracts to Yingniang and said, "This is your family's contract. From now on, the three acres of sandy land to the west will be yours. You must keep the contract well! You can come here to collect the money later with this contract."
After saying that, he asked a middle-aged man to take Yingniang to look for land nearby.
Yingniang quickly put the contract in her arms and went to a sandy area with the middle-aged man.
The sandy land was not far from her home and could be reached in an incense stick's time.
The man measured the edge of the land for a while, inserted a few poles, and surrounded it with ropes. Then he said to Yingniang, "The land within the rope is yours. You will be responsible for this piece of sandy land from now on. As for what to plant and how to plant it, just come and ask me."
"My last name is Shang. I'm the manager of the sandy land near the dock. I stay in the small house next to the dock during the day. If you have any questions about the land, just come and ask me!"
This man surnamed Shang was one of the veterans hired by Shen Xuan to manage the farmland. Shen Xuan paid him one tael of silver a month and put him in charge of a hundred acres of sandy land near the dock.
These managers also have land at home, so they can earn extra salary by helping Shen Xuan teach hired farmers to grow fruit.
Moreover, the silver that Chen Xuan gave was not small, almost the same as the salary of a manager of a big shop in the city, which was already a very good job in Sarawak!
After Ying Niang took the lead, some of the fishermen who were still waiting and watching began to become active.
Especially those families who are poor and have many children, who have no idea where to start. Having such an extra income is a great thing for them!
Gradually, in addition to Yingniang, more and more fishermen signed up to contract the sand land. In just a few days, all the 100 acres of sand land near the dock were contracted out. There are other lands, further away, which are not under the charge of this manager named Shang.
However, among those who contracted the sandy land with Yingniang, there were some who were not optimistic about the land contracting and sang an opposing tune with them.
Zhao Baozhu's uncle Zhao Erlang's family was quite disdainful of the idea of contracting sand land.
After Zhao Baozhu's father passed away, Zhao Erlang's family cut off contact with Yingniang and her family, fearing that Yingniang and Zhao Baozhu could no longer get along and would come to their house to beg for food and drink.
Yingniang was a strong-willed person. Seeing the attitude of her husband's brothers, she gritted her teeth and endured it all on her own no matter how difficult it was, and would never ask Zhao Erlang's family for an extra cup of rice.
However, when Zhao Erlang's family heard that Yingniang had contracted three acres of sandy fields, they became sarcastic. He told everyone that Yingniang was too stupid and had been cheated. She was afraid that she would work for others for nothing and would not get a penny.
On this day, Zhao Baozhu was plowing the fields as requested by Manager Shang. Zhao Baoyue, the brother of Zhao Erlang and Zhao Baozhu's cousin, came over with a group of good friends and watched Zhao Baozhu working in the dirt.
"Zhao Baozhu, I see you come out to pick oysters before dawn. After picking them, you come over to turn the soil. Have you earned a penny?" Zhao Baoyue asked.
"Where will the money come from when we haven't even started planting the fields yet? Manager Shang said that we won't pay the money until August next year, when we harvest the first batch of fruits from the fields." Zhao Baozhu said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
"You work so hard for a year, but you don't even know if you'll get paid?" Zhao Baoyue said sarcastically, "You're so stupid. If the fruits in this field can't be sold, people won't pay you, and your work will be in vain!"
"Who will buy these fruits?"
"It's stupid to work for a year for nothing."
…
The friends who came with Zhao Baoyue also spoke up.
Zhao Baozhu's face flushed when she heard this, and she felt very aggrieved, but she gritted her teeth and said, "I will definitely make money. My mother said that this land belongs to the governor's husband. The business of the official master will not cheat people."
Zhao Baoyue and others burst into laughter when they heard this. They did not believe what Zhao Baozhu said. They just clapped their hands and laughed at him. They left only when the sun was at its highest.
The weather in Sarawak is very hot, and the sun is already very strong in the morning. Zhao Baozhu found a tattered straw hat to cover half of her face, but she was still severely sunburned.
Farming is hard, but life without money to eat is even harder than farming.
Even if there is only a glimmer of hope, Zhao Baozhu is willing to believe that these three acres of sandy fields can bring some income to the family.
Under the scorching sun, he turned the soil over and over again as required by Manager Shang. A few days later, after Manager Shang inspected it, he brought him a batch of soaked sugarcane segments.
Manager Shang told Zhao Baozhu that the one hundred acres of sandy land near the dock would be used to grow sugarcane.
Although Zhao Baozhu didn't know what to do with the sugarcane or who to sell it to, she obediently did as Manager Shang asked.
When Yingniang got home from work, if it was still light, she would go to the fields to help Zhao Baozhu with the work. They cooperated with each other in this way. Although it was a bit hard, they managed to plant three acres of sugarcane within ten days.
While Zhao Baozhu and his colleagues were farming here, a group of strong men suddenly came to the dock and started hammering and repairing things near Shatin.
Zhao Baozhu watched the strong men carry over many blue bricks and match them with black tiles and white mud, then she realized that these people were probably building a house.
"Manager Shang, what is this house used for?" Zhao Baozhu took a basket of oysters and asked when Manager Shang came to inspect Shatin.
"We're repairing the factory." Manager Shang actually knew the answer. He accepted the basket of oysters without hesitation and said to Zhao Baozhu with a smile.
"Factory? Why build a factory? And use such good blue bricks!" Zhao Baozhu asked in surprise.
Such a blue brick house costs dozens of coins each and is only used by wealthy lords in the city. How could anyone use it to build a factory?
"This is what the husband of the prefect ordered. He said he wanted to build a sugar factory." After hearing this, Manager Shang said to Zhao Baozhu in a mysterious tone, "I'll tell you a secret. It's said that the new prefect is a prince from Beijing, and his family is very wealthy! As soon as he came to Sarawak, he paid off the salary that was owed to the government office."
"The husband of his family was willing to use blue bricks, saying that blue bricks can withstand wind, so there is no need to worry about typhoons."
Zhao Baozhu didn't expect that these houses were actually going to be used to build a sugar factory. Then she thought about what was being planted in her own fields. Wasn't it sugarcane? It can be used to make rock sugar, and I immediately started looking forward to it!
Now that we have a sugar factory, there will definitely be a market for these sugarcanes, and there is no need to worry about no one buying them!
When Zhao Baozhu thought about getting the 1,500 coins promised in the contract, she became full of energy and watered the plants more diligently these days than usual!
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